NYC Delivers Plan To Protect Scaffold Workers

Buildings Commissioner Patricia J. Lancaster, FAIA, provided a progress report on the City's strategic plan to protect workers on scaffolds. Adopted by Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg in February, the plan outlines measures to enhance enforcement, worker outreach, and training procedures in order to ensure the safety of the workers as well as the public. The progress report was delivered at a quarterly meeting of Suspended Scaffold Worker Safety Task Force. The Commissioner was joined today by Deputy Mayor Carol Robles-Roman, Mayor's Office of Immigrant Affairs Commissioner Guillermo Linares, and Richard Mendelson, Manhattan Area Director for the U.S. Department of Labor Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA).

"The construction boom in New York City is alive and well, a sign that our long-term growth and economic vitality is strong. But in good times such as these, we must focus on protecting the workers building and maintaining our City," said Commissioner Lancaster. "As we kick-off Construction Safety Week this year, I am happy to report that we've made progress on our promise to roll out new measures to enhance the safety of our suspended scaffold workers."

Since February, the Buildings Department has implemented several of the recommendations that form the base of the City's strategic plan to protect scaffold workers. Initiatives implemented include:

• $6 million dedicated by the City to the Department of Buildings for new scaffold safety unit
• Scaffold Safety Team unit recruitment underway
• Interim inspection team has proactively inspected 756 locations, resulting in 280 violations
• Intro 522 signed into law, requiring scaffold equipment maintenance logs be kept on job sites
• Intro 523 signed into law, requiring riggers to notify Buildings when using C-Hook scaffolds
• Intro 524 signed into law, increasing and adding new penalties for scaffold safety violations
• Buildings website improved to make it easier to find information about licensed riggers